CELTA Week 17, evening 33

Evening 33, Thurs 2012-05-24

An evening of teaching practice for two of the trainees. They each did a pretty good job of it. It was very obvious that the male students were particularly rapt with the shapely younger trainee and she didn’t seem to mind the attention! Both sessions ended with lots of talking between the students though. It was clear they’d all understood the concepts being taught and enjoyed the lessons – hopefully they’ll be back next week.

By the way, student numbers is a perpetual problem. The students have no commitment or buy-in to these lessons so they feel free to attend or not. This is a big problem. We never know how many to expect or just who will turn up. One week it can be eighteen, the next, five. Not only is it difficult to cater for in terms of printed materials, it’s also difficult to manage the logistics of the activities. It also means we don’t get to know the students particularly well and so it’s difficult to gauge long-term teaching success. We work our way through the course book but some of the students who turn up are raw beginners and others old hands – you can never guarantee you’re building on good foundations. It’s tricky and quite a problem on courses such as these.